Suspend an ordinary needle from the middle by a thread. It just spins aimlessly. It tells you nothing at all.

But stroke one end of the needle slowly against a magnet 10 times and watch what happens. It will spin for a bit then come to a dead stop. One of its ends will point firmly north. You’ll know which one that is. It’ll angle down slightly, towards the earth.

The magnet changes the needle at the subatomic level, he went on. It realigns the electrons in the metal so they all face magnetic north.

I wonder if this analogy helps explain how elders transmit wisdom. Maybe a younger person’s contact with them produces a similar kind of ‘realignment’ in those they mentor? Maybe that’s what brings the ’spinning’ to a stop and allows young leaders to find and settle on their direction in the world?

Whose life might you be influencing in this way right now?


Adrian Juric is an MEA alum. Therapist-turned-filmmaker. On the move in search of wisdom and the questions that open doors.